Is British baking really better than American baking?

British baked treats never look good to me. In particular, the Victoria sponge or sandwich cake you always see on British tv shows looks positively disgusting.

OP, Mary was worried that American bottoms would be soggier.

British baking isn't 'better' it's just a different skill set and generally not as sweet us us cakes/desserts.

The only major difference is the suet type hot puddings like treacle, jam roly-poly, spotted dick etc

I think an average British cook could manage to make most US cakes & pies though and I'm not sure the reverse is true.

^^That looks vile.

[quote]^^That looks vile.

So does most British cooking. Even though they had great cuisines a short distance away (France, Italy) the Brits never mastered the art of cooking.

Who the hell eats Marmite? It's disgusting.

From the experience I've had, having lived in both countries, American baked good are way nicer than British. The cakes alone. And American cakes are taking over in England, (we even have a v.popular fancy American bakery chain in London) and even appearing everywhere in France.

English puddings are very nice. The good ones. I can't even think what American puddings/desserts are.

The English are also trying to do American breakfasts now - but they can't even seem to make an American Pancake properly. We've discussed this at some length on several American pancake threads.

To be fair most of the steamed pudding do look vile, taste great though and don't take hours since microwave ovens became common.

[quote] So does most British cooking. Even though they had great cuisines a short distance away (France, Italy) the Brits never mastered the art of cooking. Who the hell eats Marmite? It's disgusting.

1974 called, Mary...they want you back.

Marmite is a very acquired taste. Like Root Beer.

American food tends to LOOK good. It's presented well, but is often bland and tasteless.

& the preservatives in American food are horrendous. If you're not used to it you can really feel it.

It's neither British nor American, but the marzipan-covered Swedish Princess Cake they often feature on the Great British Baking Show does not look appetizing to me.

[quote]To be fair most of the steamed pudding do look vile, taste great though and don't take hours since microwave ovens became common.

I don't think treacle pudding looks vile. It looks as good as it tastes.

[quote]1974 called, Mary...they want you back.

r8 is the product of a "beans on toast" home.

R6 I'm not sure that they attempt to make American pancakes, they just buy them in and reheat them.

Traditional American baking is pretty solid. To be fair though, there are some way over-the-top, too sugary sweet desserts that have become popular recently. Check the Christina Tosi thread for examples.

[quote][R6] I'm not sure that they attempt to make American pancakes, they just buy them in and reheat them.]

In the fancy places in London they make them from scratch.

The Wolseley makes them as good as in the USA...at a cost. But I'll pass on the fancy fruits, thanks.

This is the secret to fluffy, delicious pancakes. It couldn't be easier.

I don't understand why the Brits have such a hard time with American pancakes. They're not that difficult to make.

[quote]I don't understand why the Brits have such a hard time with American pancakes. They're not that difficult to make.

I don't agree. I learned from DL - years ago, and I still sometimes fluff them. I think they're pretty fucking tricky to get right.

Fluffy pancakes = adding a little extra baking powder and/or meringued egg whites.

In fact I just read a recipe about using Cream of Wheat in your pancake recipe. As soon as I can find some "Cream of Wheat" in London, I'm going to try it.

R16 In a restaurant they are just too time consuming, If you are eating a £6 ($9) breakfast nobody is making you fresh pancakes.

Everybody working there is on a minimum wage of $13 an hour, more in London.

[quote]I don't agree. I learned from DL - years ago, and I still sometimes fluff them. I think they're pretty fucking tricky to get right.

What do you find difficult about them?

They literally take 10 minutes, including preheating the griddle.

Even in America they sometimes undercook them and they're all doughy in the middle. I tend to ask for them to be "well done" just in case.

[quote]In a restaurant they are just too time consuming, If you are eating a £6 ($9) breakfast nobody is making you fresh pancakes. Everybody working there is on a minimum wage of $13 an hour, more in London.

Delis and diners and mothers with children do it every day in the US.

In diners, they just have a big tub of mix that they pull out of the refrigerator and slap on the grill. Takes 5 minutes.

They bake treats that go with tea. And there are so many different kinds and quality of tea.

Our love of baked goods is unrivalled. We have perfected recipe after recipe, for centuries if not millennia. I’ve been all over the world and the only countries that do it as well as the British are the French and Italians because we’ve all borrowed from each other.

Now, there is obviously a great deal of bias involved here - the only American dessert I can name off the top of my head is the New York cheesecake. Stellar for sure, but it’s no match for shortbread or carrot cake or Victoria sponge or scones or battenberg or even sticky toffee pudding.

I would love to bake you all some of my favourites, and I’d love for you Yanks to recommend me some of yours. x

The thing that looks worst to me is their meat pies,

R24 If you have a cook, a kitchen porter and 2 servers their wage bill is $4 for that 5 minutes, plus employers National Insurance, plus Rent, Business rates, Gas, Electricity etc. Each staff member is also entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation, paid sick leave and double pay on Sundays/Public Holidays.

Restaurants are going bust in the UK with frightening regularity.

[quote]Restaurants are going bust in the UK with frightening regularity.

Yes. The crap ones.

Many of them opened so many branches and didn't keep an eye on the quality. It was out of hand.

[quote]and I’d love for you Yanks to recommend me some of yours.

Apple pie

Cherry pie

Pecan pie

Peanut butter pie

Chocolate cake

Rice pudding

Vanilla pudding

Rice Krispy treats

[quote] If you have a cook, a kitchen porter and 2 servers

How much time does it take to pull a vat of pancake batter out of a refrigerator and pour three pancakes on a grill? It's quicker than frying eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms and all the things that go on an English Breakfast.

R30 Rice Pudding is one that every country stole from Asia/India/China.

Fruit Pies are largely from England.

Meat pies are delicious.

R31 They don't really make the fried breakfasts totally fresh either, with the exception of the eggs it's pre/part cooked and quickly finished when you order.

Restaurants go broke in the US, too. The secret to a successful restaurant is family. You get the husband & wife owners who work in there every day and hire your nieces and nephews and kids...

My cousin owns a restaurant and is in the kitchen every single night with the chef, cooking along with him. He takes off his apron and goes out every once in a while to talk to the customers, His wife is the hostess and also makes all the desserts. She also helps bring food to the table when the waitresses are really busy or there is a large party. Their son bar tends and also helps in the kitchen when needed. They’ve hired various nieces & nephews as servers. His brother used to be the chef.

Restaurants are often used as money laundering operations or just plain centers for theft . We’ve all seen Goodfellas. My cousins and i were poor and grew up working a neighborhood restaurant when we were 14. The owners were lucky because we were all honest kids who didn’t steal. You’d be shocked at how much theft goes on. Bartenders, chefs, kitchen assistants....the owners of the restaurant we worked at caught a lot if people stealing. They’ll steal anything. Not just liquor or money, they’ll steal napkins, cutlery, tablecloths and my mother told me that a man on our block stole a his dining room table and chairs from a restaurant he worked in (she wouldn’t allow us to play with his kids).

The owners have to be there every night and keep their eye on everyone like a hawk.They have to pitch in every single night. They close down for three weeks in winter and that’s their (and their staff’s) only holiday. My cousin started as kitchen workers then a busboy, then waiter, than bartender, then maître d'. He learned the business from the bottom up. He can do any job. And he won’t admit it, but he loves it. He lost a lease on a restaurant he’d been at for 25 years. Everyone expected him to retire. Nope. He opened up a small bistro type restaurant and all of his customers followed him because he gets to know all the regulars and they love him.

It’s like theater, in a way. Every night you put on a show and the audience comes in and you try to get their approval. You want them to like what you’re doing. When they do, it’s really satisfying. On a bad night, you feel like it was a disaster. But the good night make up for the bad. .

R31 American rice pudding is much better than Asian rice pudding though it may have come from there.

R35 We don't really have Mom & Pop restaurants in the bigger cities of the UK. The rents are too high and the staff wage bills and benefits are crippling.

If I eat breakfast out I usually go to a supermarket cafe, at least they are honest about selling reheated crap.

Irrelevant OP. German/Austrian is the best. The schlongs too.

That breakfast at R37 isn't the slightest bit appealing. The sausage looks cheap and fatty, like the kind that's white inside. The "bacon" looks inedible and the beans look bland as fuck. Why would I want a pile of mushrooms for breakfast?

OP French beats both

[quote]If I eat breakfast out I usually go to a supermarket cafe, at least they are honest about selling reheated crap.

I LOVE supermarket cafés in England (although they're usually poorly run). They're the closest we have to an American Coffee Shop.

Unfortunately many are disappearing. Sainsbury's are replacing them with Argos and ASDA is replacing them with McDonald's.

& I don't think they're reheated crap.

We had a British cousin who stayed with us years ago. She insisted on making all her own food because she found our tuna noodle casseroles and the like unappetizing. She instead made a tuna mold that was like tuna salad with capers, nuts, green olives. It was delicious. No binding mayo - just cream and Mop's curry which was out of this world.

Yeah that looks delicious.

R39 That is unfortunately what most of them look like (mushrooms are pretty traditional in the UK) as breakfast prices are very competitive, at £5 that is one of the most expensive.

Pub chain Wetherspoons charge £3 - £3.50 for a standard breakfast, nobody can make a profit at those prices.

From r44's article.

[quote]The best place to go on a date was found to be Pizza Express,

The British can't do Pizza either.

Americans can't make pizza either, certainly not as good as the pizza in Italy (Naples).

There's a Chinese restaurant in my old neighborhood in Manhattan, a family ran the restaurant. The kids worked in it and brought their schoolbooks with them. They eventually graduated from med school and the parents retired. The workers from the restaurant pooled their money and bought the business, now their kids work there. That little restaurant has the best Chinese food I've ever eaten. I always go there when I'm in the city. If it ever closed, it would be like a dagger in my heart. Something about the food just says "home."

in America they often offer French Toast for breakfast (another thing the Brits can't do) - and you never see it in France....actually, maybe in hotels and such.

[quote]If it ever closed, it would be like a dagger in my heart. Something about the food just says "home."

So link it here - maybe you'll get a few people trying it out.

Dan Levy - the hairiest gender confused male around, hosted the Great Canadian Baking Show for a few seasons before he sold that Schitt show to Hollywood. He's gone now and too big healthy girls have taken his place hosting. Some bad French man is a good judge though. Up the Creek.

The American version was the worst, because the bakers are coached to be dumber and bigger reality TV type personalities. Bakers are not very interesting, but real people can be. The British show proved that and had a lot of charm - baking in a tent on a summer lawn, trying to earn the handshake of that FAT but handsome man. Lots of red faced old gay men who were fussy and always flushing and some beautiful biracial men and women - all with low class accents and the lovely pickled Pru. That's what they worried would be inferior when the show crossed the Atlantic. And they were right. It was unwatchable in the U.S. A bit better in Canada. We know how to make a cup of tea and not grandstand too much. You'll get nerves, arched expression, polite laughter but no tears here. Dan Levy has left the tent. I fucked him once off the coast of the Atlantic all summer in his arse.

[quote]There's a Chinese restaurant in my old neighborhood in Manhattan

What's the name of the place? I'm always looking for good Chinese food.

There used to be tons of Irish bar/restaurants in Manhattan. Brunch was two eggs, toast, bacon, sausage blood pudding tea or coffee and mimosa. They didn’t do the beans, tomato or mushroom.

My local one charged $5. Yeah, they all went out of business years ago. There was always a Tipperary Inn, Kitty Kelley’s, or ‘O’Donnell’s, Katie O’Neill’s somewhere within 5 blocks of where you were in Manhattan.

R48 French Toast in Britain was traditionally savoury rather than sweet, the Scottish still serve it with sausage.

If you tried to charge much for anything bread based in the UK people wouldn't buy it. You can buy a large (800g) sliced loaf of bread here from about 50p (65c). You'd have to plate each slice in gold for anyone to pay more than 60p a slice.

Good grief, just boil an egg, fry some bacon and toast some bread.

[quote]If it ever closed, it would be like a dagger in my heart.

Pics please.

testing (i'm sorry)

R54 Not sure that anyone has eaten Gala Pork Pie for breakfast for since the late Regency. The Victorians ate a similar breakfast to us now, with the possible options of Devilled kidneys and Kedgeree.

I’m bailing because I’m finding this thread triggering. Half of you Yankee Doodle Dandies have not fucking clue what you’re talking about. Sad! x

British food is shit. It has lately gotten a bit better, but that is due to EU citizens coming to the UK and cooking for them. Well! Brexit will take care of that. They may soon have to eat their own horrible cooking.

Yeah OP, in your dreams

R58, well, at least you know your limitations

British is best. American is excessively heavy on the sugar, and cinnamon seems to be a major ingredient.

Enjoy your preservatives, Mary @ R59 .

R58, don't leave. Please share a trifle recipe first! Or strawberry shortcake.

[quote]American is excessively heavy on the sugar, and cinnamon seems to be a major ingredient.

& often bland and tasteless.

They do a good cheeseburger and breakfasts are good otherwise, zilch.

R58 I have to agree with you Rhoda. Most of the time they're very biased here, in addition to ignorant or unaccustomed to our foods. It's the pervasive "American Exceptionalism" and all that....Imagine they're offering up "Tuna Noodle Casserole" and Pain Perdu... Especially complaining it's not widely available in France, except at "Hotels".... I give up. I believe many like R42/R48 probably haven't been anywhere in Britain in thirty years or more. French style lovely [italic] gâteaux [/italic] are available almost everywhere.

[quote] ossible options of Devilled kidneys and Kedgeree.

My grandmother used to make kidney pie. Also boiled pig head scrape off meat, add it and vegetables to the gel.

I asked my mother how she could eat that stuff and she said "It was that or starve. You'd develop an appetite for it when your lunch was a folded over piece of bread with sandwich spread on it."

Sandwich spray was something like vinegary mayonnaise with diced pickle, onions, peppers, cabbage. She said she ate it at school and it was warm and sludgy by then and she used to gag every day but she ate it because there was nothing else.

One word: brownies.

In my experience the baked goods of the two nations are about equal when you factor in the distinctive traditional desserts and leave out the junk food, processed food, supermarket versions, and trendy stuff (which in the US, in my opinion, includes blandly sweet cupcakes whose icing doubles their total height). Britain has Banoffee pie, bakewell tart, and such things as sticky toffee pudding. The US has brownies, pecan pie, cheesecake, tollhouse cookies. Both nations share delectable crumbles/crisps, e.g. apple, rhubarb, or berry.

R67 In which century did your Gran live and cook? Not that I'm knocking a good Steak and Kidney pie, but they don't sound as if either your mum or gran were accomplished cooks. Kidney pies, as well as calve's heart pies are not very popular, nor have they been for decades... unless you're in the country and quite old and poor. They ceased to even be popular pub fare by the 1980s.

R19, Please try my healthier and very easy recipe instead.

2 eggs well beaten, 1 C plain yogurt, 1 T white sugar, 1 T baking powder, 1 1/2 t almond flavoring, dash salt, 1 1/4 C flour, at least 2 T chia seeds, filtered water to desired consistency, (Chia seeds mean you need a lot more water which makes the pancakes less caloric)

Fry in cast iron pan over medium-low heat in 1 t butter.

My Scottish grandmother made the best shortbread, current buns and sausage rolls I have ever tasted. We can't replicate them, as hard as we try.

I have heard Eastern Europeans saying that Albania has the best pastry

R67 The horrible vinegary sandwich spray/spread was called Salad Cream (usually Heinz). They still make it, it's disgusting, but there seems to be a nostalgia market for it.

It's certainly an acquired taste

Those foods were what my mother ate in the 1930s and 1940s in America R69. Eleven in the family.

That salad cream was all she had on the bread. They were poor in a way most people can't comprehend today. The public health nurse used to visit, check them for lice and give them a big spoonful of cod liver oil

Cupcakes and doughnuts put America in the lead by default.

Brits are too obsessed with sponge. Everything is a damn sponge variant.

Funny that R72, I've never been... but for all you Americans looking for your favourite sweet "French Toast" abroad, it's quite readily available throughout Bulgaria and Romania, having been popularised by the Gypsies.

OMG when I was a kiddie in the 70s the big teatime favourites in GB were Rock Cakes (flour, salt and sugar and currants - see pic.) & Fairy Cakes.

Now we have cool shit like Lemon Drizzle and Pikelets.

R74 That sounds very bleak. Sorry to hear you had it so harsh... not shaming anyone growing up in poverty, but modern British do not eat this way. The comparisons made here are quite outdated. Cities have everything to offer now as the rest of the world really.

Lemon Drizzle >

R26, May I recommend pineapple/peach upside down cake and Chinese strawberry cake (like those from Los Angeles' China Town?) The latter is a light sponge cake with pudding between the layers and topping, a thin layer of whipped cream, and then artfully arranged fresh strawberries. It has French origins.

R71 It's almost certainly the type of flour that you are using that is stopping you from replicating your Scottish Grandmothers cooking.

For the buns you need a high gluten bread flour (though she could have used that to make everything). You could also try adding a small amount of whole meal flour (no more than 10%) as she could have been obtaining it locally, so less refined.

Unbleached white flour could an option for the shortbread if you can find it. Probably better to add a little bicarb to the pastry mix if you are making sausage rolls or they will be heavy and tough (unless she was making puff pastry).

Treacle tart

For years you only saw English muffins in America. Then they revived them in England.

We also now have American muffins (but not corn) in England. But they don't generally know how to bake them here.

This old queen Rhoda Bollocks is one of the meanest posters on Datalounge. Is he a brit? Such a scathing and unhappy OLD man. It's not witty to use feminine pronouns as a put down to fine ass men and to call people younger and smarter than you a C*UNT - just cuz you're an unhappy old fag. Rhoda is a grotesque new poster here. Knows nothing of music, sex, culture or modern men. Ass full of beans and not much else for the last 30 years is my guess. x

I don't think I've ever had any traditional British baked goods. I was watching the Great British Bake-off while I was stuck in a nursing home, and was very impressed by what I saw. Anyway, for an American like me, when it comes to baking, I think we do pies really well, especially sweet potato, chess, and banana cream pie. When I was a kid, for some reason, my Mom would prepare pancake batter on Friday night and put it in the fridge, and my Dad would then make us all pancakes the next morning. I also think things like banana bread and zucchini bread are distinctly American. Anyway, here's Edna Lewis' peach cobbler.

R82 A tiny amount of baking powder or cream of tartar can help with the pastry for sausage rolls. Beef tallow or lard is the best fat to use for optimum flavour and texture IMHO.

I'm surprised no one's asked for follow-up from R50 on "My Summer of Anal with Dan Levy"!

R87 Pretty sure that only 'baking soda' (bicarb) not ready made 'baking power' is widely available in the USA, I think they tend to use buttermilk to replace the acid (cream of tartar).

Baking Powder could be more easy to find now but I remember whole threads on the subject 10-20 years ago.

Edna Lewis said that the formula for commercial baking powder had been changed, and she thought it now added a metallic taste. So she devised her own, which works very well.

The Swedish Princess cake at r9 looks like an iced version of Baked Alaska to me. Very similar.

I'm pretty sure the gay men contributors here are "post" sex R88. Baking and breakfast shouldn't be taken so seriously. Y'all are in such a rush to share. Datalounge is just like Facebook in 2011! Such recipes and recommendations. #MeToo.

Dan Levy had to learn every technique from me. It was painstaking. He learned over 6 weeks how to please. Neither one of us can bake.

R89 Ready made, or double action baking powder is available. I have lived in the States going on twenty-one years. What can still be tricky to find is aluminium-free baking powder. The double action, has a touch of bicarb. It is rather old-fashioned, but I prefer the shortcrust pastry for sausage rolls. Granted Scottish is difference (mostly puff-pastry, and beef). The shortcrust pastry is crumbly, and almost identical to pastry one might use for quiche. I like a 60/40 butter/lard mix... All lard or tallow can be used, but it gets too short and crumbly, and the butter combo is a taste most are familiar with. I have seen 50/50 recipes that are quite old. I always add a teaspoon or two of Coleman's dry mustard to the pastry... hardly any water, and if more water is required to bring together, I add a pinch of vodka.

Thinking about it the main reason that Brits bugger up American Pancakes is probably because they add baking powder instead of baking soda (bicarb), which would add the acidity of Cream of Tartar to the acidity of buttermilk and neutralize the bicarbonate of soda very quickly.

Baking is chemistry after all.

[quote]Thinking about it the main reason that Brits bugger up American Pancakes is probably because they add baking powder instead of baking soda

I was told, when I was learning the art, by the Americans on DL, to quit the soda and use the powder. I must say, they don't rise as much as I would like them to.

R94 American cooks use the baking powder too. Last time I ordered American pancakes, I could detect that bitter undernote... almost as if too much was used to get them so fluffy. I couldn't finish them. Others at table who tasted them thought they were off too. Frankly, I'd rather have thin French crepes

I think the best breakfast is Northern Europe such as Hamburg with the glistening little delis that sell all sorts of creamy and fishy salads, and smoked fish, and good bread.

Such delis used to exist on the US North Eastern seaboard, my grandmother would take me to them. I'm sure they are all gone.

Best lunch in USA was Italian sandwich delis or jewish delis. The Italians ones are still around and the good ones still important all the meat from Italy.

In Italy I like the late afternoon stops for a bitter-sweet cocktail and finger sandwiches - in the belle époque cafés such as Torino. There are few tourists in Torino and there is very good Italian shopping.

Paul Hollywood’s bread books are excellent. I’ve been baking bread for 40 years. American recipes emphasize volume in measure. Lots of fancy gadgets.

Brits? Toss that. Use a scale, do it all by weight and do it by hand. Best bread I ever made, and the least effort.

Americans (including me) over complicate the simple stuff.

R98 Yes grams are best for measuring dry ingredients. Be proud you're ahead of the curve; most Americans whinge trying to use our recipes. Don't they teach this way in US cooking schools? I had thought all the pros do it this way.

Why suck antiquated american dick R99? The whole world uses grams to measure baking ingredients. And everything else.

I should've stressed weights... as I suppose Americans could use Oz rather than G.... Still curious what they're teaching the future pros.

[quote] Our love of baked goods is unrivalled. We have perfected recipe after recipe, for centuries if not millennia. I’ve been all over the world and the only countries that do it as well as the British are the French and Italians because we’ve all borrowed from each other.

1. Don't ever mention british food in the same sentence as French or Italian food.

2. The French and the Italians didn't borrow any type of cooking tips or recipes from the british

3. British cooking/baking is a joke to the entire world

Why is it better to measure dry ingredients by weight than by volume?

It is a truer measure. 6 ounces is always 6 ounces. A cup can weigh different amounts, depending on how it is packed.

What genius R104. What a dumb question R103. Americans are truly backward.

One thing about British baking that I've yet to grasp is "hot-water pastry." I've never EVER seen or heard of an American recipe that uses it, and I don't really understand the concept at all. Same goes for "rough puff," which they use all the time on GBBO. I only know regular puff pastry and regular pastry -- like for pies and quiches. I know there are variations of regular pastry (some are sweetened, some have nuts, etc.) but they're basically just butter or some other fat cut into flour.

My commentary on the original topic: I think both countries' baked goods are great--but what VERY obvious is that the home bakers they use on the GBBO are far, FAR more talented than their US counterparts. I don't know whether to attribute that to an overall superiority of British bakers, or if the way contestants were vetted and chosen for the US version of the show didn't emphasize baking ability.

R103, food scales are not that expensive. Once you start using a food scale, you will really start to like it.

[quote]r3 I think an average British cook could manage to make most US cakes & pies, though, and I'm not sure the reverse is true.

We don't want to make, let alone eat, their steamed pudding slop.

Kouign amann (French) is my favorite right now. So delicious, better than a croissant.

Over all, British desserts may look disgusting, but they usually taste wonderful. They are never as sweet as American desserts, but they each have a unique taste. American desserts always look great, but they are wayyyyy too sweet, bland, and end up tasting alike, and rely on textural differences to distinguish themselves. I’ve never understood our propensity to douse an entire breakfast in maple syrup, for instance. Our donuts are all so sweet and sugary. If you’ve ever had a French or English eclair with cream and dark chocolate, you will never again like the custard filled American version. Same for Italian cannoli vs. American cannoli. Try Swedish pancakes, with their subtle taste and fragrance and you realize that American pancakes are really just cheap cafeteria food.

For some reason I lost the bottom half of my message. Anyway, I just wanted to add that the same goes for all European and a British baking. Breads, even store bought british breads are absolutely delicious. French bread baking is outta this world. English pies were considered mostly street and labor food, so they never achieved much refinement but they can be amazing, even mass produced store bought ones. I was in my 20s when I first tasted Marks andSpencer steak and kidney pie and I got so hooked on it that I eat at least one a day. The quality has fallen off over the years though, last time I was there, it tasted like an American version of British food. For a real sample of British cooking at its best, go to Harrods’ food hall and sample a bit of everything

R110, My Mom taught me and my sister how to make profiteroles and real eclairs, and I prefer them immensely over standard American pastries. She was a master or choux dough, so I'm surprised she never made gougeres.

Anyway, America actually does have a very traditional steamed pudding: Boston Brown Bread.

I lived in Palm Springs for a while ( for my sins - it’s basically a golf course from hell ) and every so often someone would say ‘ let’s go for some pie ‘ and we’d all have to troop out to some place that did them. Apart from it being bizarre that a bunch of grown men would air around a table and eat what seemed to be kid’s food everything I tried was repulsively sweet. Kid’s food.

However talking about Brit food v US food and arguing one way or another is pointless. There is disgusting muck either side of the Atlantic. The US is better at doing homely, feel good food in restaurants. Particularly breakfasts.

But I recently went to Boulevard in San Francisco and, while it was good, I didn’t get the fuss. Pretty staid and unadventurous given the cost. You can find far better in London or Edinburgh.

R20, the national minimum wage is now, £8.21, around $10. London is also has been and still one of the most expensive cities in the world. Check the price of petrol, rent, train and tube fares; you can pay thousands a year in travel alone for travel.

Yes, r28, we know you think "socialism" is bad. And it is 28 days, not including bank holidays or your weekends, that's just over 5 weeks. And you're only entitled to Satutory Sick Pay (SSP) is around £350 a month. Restaurants open a d close all the time in London, it's expensive, as I mentioned previously.

Outside of London and for most in London, going out for a meal is still a treat. But, we still manage to get to the pub and Macdonald's several times a week.

Bad teeth, bad food and warm beer is what a lot of Americans think when they think "England". And that's OK.

I have never in my life woken up and thought: "Ooh, I do fancy an American pancake for breakfast" or "let's go to America, the food there is so good". Most British people haven't.

The British aren't known for their cuisine and that includes baked goods.

Do you get Scotch Eggs in America. They're very nice. I dip them in mayonnaise.

[quote]The British aren't known for their cuisine and that includes baked goods.

Neither are the Americans, Mary. That includes baked goods.

How very you R117

How very DARE you

[quote]I have never in my life woken up and thought: "Ooh, I do fancy an American pancake for breakfast"

I have and I do all the time. So do many British people who have been to America. That's why you now see "American Pancake Mix" in UK supermarkets. They are whack by the way. If you must get a mix, get an American import...which you now see in the American sections of UK supermarkets.

American food is, overall, tastier than British. There is more divergence in regional tastes.

This thread is proof of the reason both countries are dealing with the problems obese people bring. I wonder how much money that NHS would save if this shit wasn't considered 'cuisine' and the real results of eating it were published on the sides of the cartons, like cigarette packages in Canada that portray diseased lungs?

BLECH, all of it. Give me an apple from the tree.

R9 You have to try it before you knock it. I love Princess Cake, it is my absolute favorite type of cake. I have a Swedish bakery near me that makes an extraordinary one but Gelson’s has a damn good one too.

For all the fancy, complicated, multi-layered desserts people are trotting out here, no one makes better cookies, brownies, etc (i.e. the types of simple desserts real people actually bake in their homes often) than the US. A proper chocolate chip cookie is better than anything I've seen on this thread.

[quote]Do you get Scotch Eggs in America. They're very nice. I dip them in mayonnaise.

That's a joke, right?

British desserts are less sweet than AMerican desserts. Also, British bakers focus on technique, whereas American baking is split fairly equally between technique and loading the crap out of a dessert with chocolate, nuts, and all sorts of good stuff.

If you ever go to a. Enervation of some sort I can tell you this: brownies will be devoured. I've made beautiful cupcakes and cakes and stollens that were delicious and looked good enough to be on a magazine cover. People bring their cannoli and (gross) ambrosia. The lowly, crinkled, unevenly cut brownie is king. People love them with their flakey top crust and chewy center.

And you don't need to add nuts or cream cheese, Hershey bars, Reese's peanut butter cups, Andes mints or any of the other dozens of ingredients I've seen. Just plain old homemade brownies.

Oh dear myself. Thought I'd written celebration but I guess you could bring brownies to an enervation.

The only difference between an American dessert and a British one is that once the latter is baked, they feel the compunction to drench it in whatever liquid is close by. Liqueurs, Juice, Pine-Sol, they don't care. Just soak it to a ridiculous point to make it inedible.

R127, Brownies reflect Americans love of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, especially since candy bars today taste of sugar rather than chocolate.

Yes, I should have said if you are at an American celebration R130. Plain brownies from scratch or if you are not a scratch-maker, I recommend ghirardelli double chocolate (not triple chocolate) which people doctor up by doing things like adding strong coffee or Kahlua instead of water, an extra spoonful of coco, butter/oil substitute, a few more drops of vanilla.. Whatever you like.

[quote] . I love Princess Cake

IKEA sells it

R123, that is true -- I should give it a shot. I just associate that bright pink color with overly sweet desserts.

[quote]British desserts are less sweet than AMerican desserts

I'm not sure this is true, when you think about treacle tarts and sticky toffee pudding and Bird's hot custard all over everything.

[quote]Do you get Scotch Eggs in America

Yes.

Our beloved Aunt Marisol is from Devonshire England and she made treacly deserts that were way too sweet and gooey. One was a pudding pie. Literally boxed pudding mix made with jam, apricots and black walnuts and wheat germ crust. We'd have to indulge her by saying how we loved it. She would also wrap bacon around veal loaf (not meat loaf) and it was over spiced. AM did make the best tartar sauce from scratch I'd ever had though.